


On the other end of the line

by waterforests



Category: JBJ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Kenta is a blogger, M/M, past hodgyun, past hodken, sex mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2019-05-09 10:29:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14714337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waterforests/pseuds/waterforests
Summary: Kenta returns to Seoul a year after he graduates, to accept a job that sounds good enough to shake up his life again. He doesn't expect to have a new crush, though, or meet his ex, either.Written for JBJ Come True prompt 79:Kenta's a popular blogger. Some of his most popular posts are funny stories from when he was studying in Korea and dating sb there. Naturally, his ex has no idea lots of Japanese people are reading anecdotes about how much he fails as a boyfriend. So it's pretty awkward for Kenta when he moves back to Seoul for work and finds himself living near his ex (not to mention the ex's handsome roommate).





	On the other end of the line

**Author's Note:**

> Hello...! I've been hanging on for this for a while. It was meant for the Come True prompt fest, but it looks like that ended up being cancelled. Boo :(.
> 
> However, I was really proud of what I wrote so I wanted to post it anyways, especially since GyunKen is such an underappreciated ship??
> 
> I hope this is good, I've never written anything like this before.
> 
> (Prompter if you're out there I hope you liked this too....!)

`Saturday, April 7, 2018 22:55:04  
Title: An important announcement`

`Dear strawberries,`

`I have very exciting news for you! I'm moving back to Korea!`

`It probably sounded like some of my time there wasn't so fun, but I finally got a job there … and honestly, Moomin is probably going to be hard to find again in Seoul, so I'm not too worried about it. Either way, I'm a different person now also, so I'm not too afraid of even seeing him. I know I'll be able to stand up for myself, so please don't worry about me too much! I'll be sure to keep you all updated also— lots of food pictures and scenery, all of the things that you were expecting of me anyways, just all in a different setting.`

`I'll see you soon!  
KENTA★`

Kenta was lucky. The company he’d be working for had helped him pay for that massive down payment, and made it possible for him to live in an actual apartment instead of a shitty goshiwon. He couldn’t even complain that his commute was long.

His apartment was tiny, and he didn’t have a roommate. He was glad he didn't have one— they had always been a source of pain for him. He liked the idea of roommates for sure, of having someone around, to cook for, to spend time with. But they were often messy, or inconsiderate.

Inconsiderate was certainly a word he could use to describe his roommate in his last year of school, given that he’d managed to catch him with Donghan in his own bed. At least Donghan had already broken up with by the time that happened. It could have been worse. He had to run back out of the room and vomit, but it still could have been worse. A lot worse.

He wouldn't have to see Donghan again this time. Seoul was a big city, and the chances were so impossibly low that Kenta couldn't even psych himself out if he tried.

His apartment felt too empty, but he’d fix that soon. He hoped that people in this building were friendly, but at the same time, he was pretty sure that it might be easier to just focus on his new graphic design job for the moment.

He didn’t want to open himself up to anything just yet.

* * *

Eventually his apartment started feeling more homey. Even though it was still small, even though he hadn’t really settled in that much. He still didn’t really know anyone, but that was okay by him. He had himself, and work, and that was really enough. He just wanted a normal, peaceful life.

Of course, life had other plans for him.

It all started when he was taking the trash out one day, when he bumped into someone.

He was hot, even though he wasn’t exactly Kenta’s type. Kenta’s type was taller and a little prettier, but this guy was all sharp angles and he had a funny curling smile— at least when he saw Kenta there taking out the trash.

“Hey there,” he said as he dumped his trash into the bin. “You new around here?”

“Um… sort of.”

“Sort of?” He hadn’t commented on his accent yet, or the fact that he clearly didn’t look Korean. He appreciated that, since most people did that when they first met him unless there was an extremely good reason for them not to be rude.

“Um, I studied in Seoul before, but then I moved away… and now I’m back.”

“Oh, really? Are you foreign?” He was still grinning in that way that felt almost shit-eating but not. Kenta wasn’t sure how that was possible. But it made him feel less nervous for some reason, so it couldn’t be all bad.

“Yeah, I’m Japanese.”

The shark smiled guy lit up at that. “Oh, wow, really? That’s awesome! What’s your name? I’m Kim Sanggyun— where do you live in this building?”

“I’m Kenta— Takada Kenta. I live in apartment 306.”

“Oh, really? Wow, we’re neighbors, then. When did you move in?”

“Only recently….”

“Oh wow. That’s cool! You said you studied here before? Why’d you come back?”

“Um, well I got a job offer in graphic design, so I figured I should move back here since it was more interesting than working for my parents back home.

“That’s cool.” He seemed to mean it too, and his grin felt a little less intimidating now.

“Um, so I should get going…”

“Well, come by whenever! I’m in 304. Or I can come to you, either way. Have you met anyone else in this building?”

“No.”

He finally frowned. “Well, I’ll come by soon then. What’s your number? Put it in my phone.”

Kenta was a little taken aback by Sanggyun’s energy, but he couldn’t exactly reject it, so he punched his number into Sanggyun’s phone.

“Awesome, okay. I’ll give you a call soon, alright?” He winked a bit before he walked off.

“Yeah…”

What a strange guy.

* * *

Soon turned out to be two days later, when he was on his lunch break. He’d never thought his ringtone until a couple of his coworkers gave him a look as it went off, but at least he wasn’t interrupting anyone.

The number was strange, but he was still in the habit of picking up phone calls no matter what.

“Hello?”

“Yo, Kenta, it’s Sanggyun. You at work?”

“Yes?”

“Well, that’s fine. You available tonight? I have something to give you. Call it a housewarming gift.” Kenta could almost feel the smile through the phone. It felt warm.

* * *

He felt warm for the rest of the day too— to the point that the coworker who sat closest to him kept shooting him strange looks. Kenta hoped they didn’t think he was losing it already.

He got through it somehow, though, and even got work done. Even if the sound of Sanggyun’s voice kept playing in his head. 

It wasn’t like him to get crushes, not since he broke up with Donghan. He’d kept his heart closed when he returned to Japan, for so many reasons. It was just easier that way.

What was the point in getting a crush on someone when they were just going to make your life miserable in the end?

Was Sanggyun going to make him miserable, though? He certainly didn’t feel like Donghan, at all.

That’s what he told himself when he got back to his apartment, although then he wasn’t sure what to do again. He could just call him, but maybe Sanggyun was stuck making dinner or something.

He decided to start on dinner— yakisoba, because it was easy and he didn’t have to head all the way to Dongbuichond-dong to get ingredients. He didn’t want to make anything that required too much thought when he had so many other things on his mind.

He was halfway through preparing all of the raw vegetables when he heard a knock at the door. He was glad that he hadn’t actually put anything on the stove yet, since that made it easy for him to head to the door.

He took a look through the peephole before opening it, even though he was almost sure it was Sanggyun— and it was. It looked like he was carrying a wrapped bottle.

He felt his heart skip a beat.

“Hey, Sanggyun.”

Sanggyun smiled as soon as he saw Kenta in front of him. “Hey, hey. I had the day off work today so I decided to do some shopping, and while I was out, I found … this! And I figured since you didn’t really have friends here or anything, that I’d bring you something nice.”

He hadn’t finished talking before he had started pushing past Kenta into his apartment. Kenta hoped he wouldn’t judge him too much on the size of his place.

Sanggyun set the bottle down on the table before he spotted the beginning of Kenta’s cooking endeavor.

“Oh, you were cooking? Anything for me?” He gave Kenta a wry smile.

“Um, I was actually going to double it because I wasn’t sure if you’d be hungry…”

Sanggyun laughed. “You really didn’t have to do that, but if we’re gonna eat, that means we can open this now— or you can. Obviously.”

“Oh— right.” He unwrapped the paper, revealing a bottle of expensive sake. At least, more expensive sake than what Kenta would buy for someone he barely knew.

Kenta wasn’t sure how he should interpret that, but he was going to go with just friendly, for the sake of preserving his sanity.

“Do you mind if I have some? You shouldn’t celebrate by yourself!”

Kenta sputtered, but he couldn’t disagree.

“Sure, you can have some. Let me finish cooking first.”

It didn’t take too long for him to finish cooking, although Sanggyun leaning over and trying to talk to him while he was working on it didn’t help. But he managed to finish without anything burning, at least.

They sat down to eat at his tiny table and Kenta wasn’t quite sure what to do until Sanggyun gleefully poured him a drink. It was more than he’d usually take, but he figured if he took it slowly then it wouldn’t be too bad.

Or he could just dump half of it out if he had to. He hated to waste alcohol, though, especially when it was given as a gift.

He didn’t thinking Sanggyun was going to take advantage of him, or anything, but he didn’t necessarily want to expose just how much of a lightweight he was to a stranger.

“So, Sanggyun…”

Sanggyun just stared at him expectantly.

“Yeah? You don’t have to worry about small talk with me, by the way. I’m not really that big on it … it’s awkward, right?”

Kenta huffed softly. “Isn’t it awkward to just say nothing?”

“Mm? I guess that’s true. So how do you like Seoul this time? Probably different from when you were in university here, right?”

“Oh yeah, it’s really different now … having a job and all of that. I’m not really in contact with a lot of people I used to know back in university either, so it’s mostly just me working.”

“Well, _that_ isn’t fun. I know a lot of people around here, honestly I probably even know people you went to school with.” He laughs. “I’m well connected.”

“Ah, for now I think I’m okay.”

Sanggyun just grinned, so if he was disappointed by that answer then Kenta couldn’t tell.

“Well, just let me know. You have my number.”

The rest of their meal passed uneventfully. Half of Kenta’s drink remained untouched, and he’d managed to avoid making a fool of himself, so he figured that to be a success. Whether he’d actually managed to impress Sanggyun was another story, and Kenta couldn’t figure out why he wanted to.

`Sunday, April 29, 2018 23:30:05  
Title: Settling in`

`Dear strawberries,`

`There's a lot to say about how things are going right now in Korea. Seoul is a very different place now that I'm not just here for university... in some ways it's a lot more lonely. I guess I shouldn't be complaining about anything too much though. The weather's been getting nicer every day, and I met a very nice young man down the hall. His name is Stitch. He brought me a bottle of sake the other day and it was good sake too! He said we'd meet again sometime soon but I'm not sure what I'm going to say to him next time.`

`It's nice to have a new friend though. He said he'd introduce me to people I went to university with if he knew any of them, which felt a little strange I guess.`

`Don't catch a cold.  
KENTA★`

They texted, occasionally. Very occasionally, and Kenta usually still felt too nervous to actually text him first. He couldn't say why— he really didn't think he had a crush. But he didn't want to seem too pushy, and he didn't want to feel like Sanggyun was just taking pity on him or whatever. He didn't want to be anyone's pity friend, and he certainly didn't want to be anyone's pity date, either.

Sanggyun would text him some weird pun most of the time, and sometimes Kenta got it, and sometimes he didn't. Usually Sanggyun was willing to explain the ones that he didn't get. It went pretty smoothly, but they didn't see eachother in person unless it was incidental, or they walked out the door together or something.

Kenta couldn't say that he was a little bit disappointed, but still it was better to have a correspondence friend than no one at all.

At least, he thought he was happy with it, until Sanggyun actually messaged him asking if he wanted to hang out at his place.

He thought he was happy with it until it occured to him that he'd actually have the opportunity to see him in person and sit in his apartment and do anything with him.

He told himself that it was just because he was attention and socialization starved, and maybe that was accurate. There was absolutely zero part of him that wanted to admit that he was harboring a crush.

Sanggyun's text said that he should be at his apartment at 5pm on Friday night, to not worry about bringing anything with him, and that his roommate would be cooking dinner.

So much for hoping that it'd be date night. He couldn't really let himself get ahead of himself this much.

He couldn't really let himself just take nothing over, so it's with a bottle of soju in his arms that he knocks on the door to Sanggyun's apartment.

He didn’t really think about who might be opening the door. After all, it’d probably be Sanggyun, or maybe his roommate, but definitely not— 

"Donghan?"

He almost dropped the bottle of soju to the floor. At least Donghan seemed surprised, too.

"... Hey, Kenta."

Kenta hated that that voice still made him feel something, when it'd been so long since he'd had any reason to enjoy it.

He didn’t like being reminded of his mistakes. But here Donghan was, his biggest mistake, and he was Sanggyun’s—

"Oh, Kenta! That's my roommate, Kim Donghan. He’s cute, right?“

He was smiling until he realized that there's something going on between the two of them, and then his face scrunches up.

"You know eachother?"

Kenta's throat goes dry, and he shoved the bottle into Donghan's hands and walked away without saying anything.

`Friday, May 18, 2018 17:15:12  
Title: I can't`

`Moomin lives with Stitch.`

`How am I supposed to explain any of this to him? It’s so embarrassing, and I thought I had moved on from Moomin now but I don’t think I have. Not from how it was seeing him.`

`I want to see Stitch again but I can’t be around Moomin. What can I do here?`

Sanggyun texted him right after he posted, and for half of a second, Kenta actually thought he might've read it. Sanggyun didn’t know Japanese or his blog url though, so that seemed unlikely.

He still ignored it , and went to the convenience store down the street to pick up something small to eat, and tried to ignore the niggling feeling in his chest that he should probably reply to Sanggyun, even if he mostly just wanted to feel badly for himself.

* * *

The texts didn't stop, and Kenta was mostly doing a good job of swiping the notifications away until he was interrupted by his phone actually ringing.

No one ever called him, so he couldn’t ignore it.

"He—“

"Donghan's your ex? Why didn't you just reply to all of my texts asking you that question instead of me having to get it out of Donghan instead?”

Kenta let the silence hang between them over the phone line. He wasn’t really sure how to explain things, especially to this guy that he at least kind of liked. Especially not when Sanggyun was roommates with him and probably at least kind of liked him.

It wasn’t like it was the worst breakup of all time, really. There were things that were horrible about it, sure. But Donghan had treated him okay until he suddenly hadn’t anymore, and told him that he wasn’t interested in someone who’d just go back to Japan after he graduated and left him behind.

Maybe Donghan was telling him that he didn’t want to get his heartbroken, but that wasn’t what Kenta really heard.

Of course, catching him that time with someone else hadn’t helped, even if they’d been broken up already by then.

Maybe Kenta had really fallen in love too quickly, to let that kind of thing happen, or to pin so much on a relationship that didn’t even last that long.

“I caught him with my roommate else the day after we broke up.”

Sanggyun just scoffed at the other end of the line. “What, really?” There was a pause after that, like Sanggyun doesn’t really know what to say.

“You know, that kind of sounds like something he’d do.”

“What does that even mean?”

“Um, nothing… but I don’t want you to suddenly start avoiding me, okay?”

“Sure.”

There’s a gentle laugh on the other end of the line. “What’s sure mean, huh? Anyways, you should call me sometime. I still wanna see you.”

* * *

He didn’t call Sanggyun back immediately. He’d seen the advertisement for some movie he was kind of curious about seeing. Some drama about an underground rapper. Apparently the director was really famous, too. He thought that Sanggyun might be able to appreciate a story like that, for some reason.

Sanggyun, of course, picked up immediately when Kenta called.

“Hey, Kenta. What’s up?”

“Uh, so you said to call when you wanted to get together, right?”

He heard a snort. “Yep, I sure did.”

“So, I saw this movie that came out, ‘Sunrise in My Hometown’. It seems kind of interesting.”

“Oh, yeah, I heard about that movie. It did sound nice, did you want to go tomorrow? Pick a time and I’ll be there.”

* * *

Since it was a Wednesday, Kenta picked a time as early as he could get away, thinking maybe they could get something else to eat after they finished up at the theater. Since he’d be coming straight from work, he asked Sanggyun to just meet him there instead of having him meet him at the apartment like he might have done otherwise.

It was a nice enough day, mostly cloudy, and not very warm, but just comfortable enough that Kenta could stand outside and wait for Sanggyun to come by the theatre he’d picked.

Sanggyun almost walked past him— so of course Kenta had to call out to him first.

“Sanggyun!”

The smile Sanggyun gave him was almost enough to make him blush, although he didn’t really want to admit it.

“Hey, Kenta. Are you ready?”

“Yeah— I already got us two tickets, so we should probably head in so that we can get decent seats.”

Sanggyun just shrugged as he looked at his ticket, and headed inside the theatre building. Kenta couldn’t do anything but follow.

Kenta usually liked to buy concessions, but he decided against it this time. Snacks were noisy, and this was considered to be a serious film. And he wanted to appreciate being next to Sanggyun in a dark theatre more than he wanted to appreciate overpriced candy.

They ended up sitting in the middle of the theatre, not too close to the front, not too close to the back, and right in the middle of the row. So not easy to escape from, but also a little comfortable, in the right kind of circumstance.

Such as if he decided that he wanted to do something like cuddle in a little closer than he usually would.

But he’d never do that, not in a million years. It’s not like he thought Sanggyun thought of him as anything but a friend. Or like he’d try it, especially now knowing that Donghan was lurking at the edge of the picture and all.

When the lights went all the way down, it seemed like everything here would be easy.  It wasn’t like he actually had to talk to Sanggyun. He could just focus on the movie, and they’d have something interesting to talk about over their dinner afterwards, and so on, and so forth.

It worked for the first half hour.

Kenta couldn’t say quite when he’d felt Sanggyun’s hand on his thigh. He’d been mostly focused on the movie, after all. But at some point, his brain wandered away from the movie just long enough to feel pressure of a hand there, on the side of his body that Sanggyun was on, and the hand wasn’t his.

It felt nice.

It felt nice, but Kenta wasn’t exactly sure what it meant. It was a mistake, right? Sanggyun wasn’t really going to be feeling him up in a movie theatre, he wasn’t the kind of guy to do that, probably, even if they had actually been dating, or even if Sanggyun had actually been interested.

Well, he wasn’t sure what Sanggyun liked from a boyfriend. He hadn’t asked.

But Sanggyun’s hand just kind of stayed there. He wasn’t rubbing, or wandering closer to Kenta’s crotch, or anything that. His hand was just there, and warm.

It was enough that he couldn’t focus properly on the rest of the film.

So much for that semi intellectual discussion once the movie was over.

At least he managed to get most of the gist of the rest of the movie, enough that he’d be able to say he’d seen it and liked it. Right before the lights in the theatre went up, he felt the slightest squeeze on his thigh.

And then his hand was gone.

Once the lights came up properly, and people started emptying out of the theater, Sanggyun gave Kenta a slightly mischeivous grin.

“That was a good movie, Kenta. Thanks for suggesting it.”

Kenta’s throat felt a little dry, and he couldn’t quite summon anything to say.

* * *

They did go to dinner, at least, even though it was getting late for a weeknight. They just went to get tteokbokki and talked about the movie, and in general it wasn’t really all that horrible. 

“You liked the movie too, right?

Sanggyun was smiling as he said it, like he hadn’t left his hand resting on Kenta’s thigh for the vast majority of it.

“Yeah.” Kenta shoved another bite of his cream tteokbokki into his mouth to avoid talking too much.

“We should do it again sometime soon, yeah?”

“Mm.” Kenta wasn’t really paying too much attention to what Sanggyun was saying. His thigh was still burning, and he felt like he should be in a different place to sort it out.

Sanggyun leaned a little. “Are you listening to me? Or are you just gonna agree to anything I say right now?” He smiled again, like that was a funny thought to him somehow.

Honestly it probably would be to a lot of people. Kenta wasn’t generally a super agreeable person, really, but he didn’t want Sanggyun to think he was vapid or something of that nature.

“We can do whatever you want?” And then he returned to eating, because he didn’t want to say too much. Or blush. Or something.

“Cool. Thanks for the birthday present.”

He said it so casually that Kenta couldn’t even bring himself to remind Sanggyun that he didn’t even know his birthday.

`Friday, May 23, 2018 22:16:17  
Title: Sunset in My Hometown`

`Dear strawberries,  
If Sunrise in My Hometown comes out where you are soon, I really recommend you see it. It’s a good movie.`

`I think Stitch might like me. I’m not sure. He thinks I knew his birthday was today, but he didn’t tell me so I don’t know why.`

`Is it finally getting warmer for you?`

`KENTA★`

`Anonymous - 2018-05-23 22:18:01  
What did Stitch do????`

`Anonymous - 2018-05-23 22:18:30  
You can’t just leave us hanging????????`

It felt weird for a little bit. He spent too much time thinking about Sanggyun, and about the almost flirting, and about his cute smile, and about that question about whether Kenta would comply with anything Sanggyun asked him to.

Honestly, as long as it wasn’t dangerous, he’d probably comply to too much. And that alone made him so nervous. He didn’t like being nervous like this.

But on the other hand, Sanggyun seemed pretty determined to make him less nervous. Even though Kenta was still kind of convinced that the last date hadn’t gone that well (if you could even call it a date, honestly), Sanggyun had called him up and asked him if he wanted to do an escape room with him.

“And Donghan, by the way.” That had made Kenta balk a little bit, and Sanggyun and just laughed and told him that he had to learn how to get along with his ex if he wanted anything to be normal for him again.

Sanggyun had picked a time that was annoyingly early on a Sunday, with the justification that maybe it’d be a little less crowded this way. Honestly, Kenta wasn’t sure how he felt about the idea of escape rooms, but Sanggyun had assured him that they weren’t high risk in most ways. Like, the most that could happen would be that the people running the thing would forget about you in there, but wouldn’t that be really bad for business? 

Kenta couldn’t really argue about that.

And it was a pretty day to be out, and even if there was a silence between all of them, Sanggyun seemed chipper.

Or more, he seemed happy to have both of them in the same room, doing something together. Kenta couldn’t tell exactly what he was thinking about it, but maybe this wouldn’t be too terrible.

When they shuffled in faithfully around 15 minutes before they were scheduled to start, Kenta looked around at the rest of their group. It was one couple and one random young women. They all looked older than them, though. People who probably didn’t want to be here this early, but were more willing to give up some sleep for the sake of saving some money.

But they still seemed keen.

“Hey, Sanggyun— there isn’t a prize for this right?”

“Huh? No, it’s just bragging rights. I can make up a prize just for you if you want it, though?” And he grinned at Kenta impishly at that.

Kenta forced himself to look away. And Donghan cut in between them.

“Hey, I think the guy running this is about to explain shit. You should probably pay attention.” He didn’t really sound that scolding about it, but something about the tone made Kenta feel a little scolded anyways. Maybe it was just memories of other things he’d been scolded for by Donghan, once upon a time.

But he couldn’t get too caught up in that, because the leader of the group was looking at them expectantly.

“Alright, please just pay attention to what things you can’t touch in the room, and if you really need to sit out some portion of it then you absolutely can. But just remember you’ll be making things harder for the rest of your group!”

He winks, and ushers them into the room, and starts the timer.

* * *

Their group finished in 52 minutes, which was good considering how much they fell over eachother. Not just Sanggyun, Donghan, and Kenta, but the entire group. Most of them hadn’t done anything like this before, but they were lucky in that the young woman was actually a developer, and loved solving this kind of problem.

Sanggyun was looking at his phone like it’d just told him that he’d won a million dollars.

“Hey, look at us down here, Donghan.” He was laughing a little as he pointed out the group of them.

Donghan smiled as he looked at them there. “Ha, you really look the best of us, Sanggyun. How do you even manage to pull that off when you only know how to take selfies from two angles?”

Sanggyun snorted. “Because I’m a natural model, Donghan. Unlike you. Anyways, it’s getting stuffy in here, so we should get lunch.” 

“What did you wanna eat?”

“Hmm…” Sanggyun pretended to ponder a bit before he answered. “Gimbap Cheonguk?”

Donghan groaned. “Sanggyun, you dragged us all the way to Hongdae and you just wanna eat cheap kimbap?”

“Huh, what, you have the money to foot us all to eat something better? Does your dad even still give you allowance anymore after you spent like 200 thousand won on barbeque in one go?”

Donghan grimaced. “Please don’t remind me of that.”

Kenta didn’t need an explanation for that. Kenta knew that Donghan had rich parents, and honestly he was far from the absolute worst kind of rich guy Kenta could’ve known. He’d decided on going to K-Arts, after all, and generally avoided flaunting his money if it could.

It was probably how they got the apartment for the two of them, or at least how they got the down payment. It was hard to pay for a two bedroom apartment on one person’s salary, even if their building wasn’t exactly the nicest.

“Kimbap sounds good to me.” Kenta smiled, and pulled out his phone to figure out what the nearest location was. And then dragged them along.

* * *

Because of course it had to be this way, it was actually pretty packed at Kimbap Cheonguk. Packed enough that the three of them had to crowd around a table for two, which reminded Kenta a little bit of university, which was a little stranger with Donghan there with him.

It was pretty easy to decide on ordering three rolls— and none of them even standard. One cheese, one so gogi, and one kimchi. And a side of kimchi mandu, because Donghan was still pouting a little bit over kimbap not being _filling enough_.

Honestly the food wasn’t the best ever, but it was cheap, and offset the cost of doing the escape room, even if it was only just a bit. And in a way, it was nice to be in close quarters with both of them, with someone who was newly familiar, and someone he’d once been familiar with.

Maybe this kind of thing could become a little more normal if he tried.

* * *

Things get a little bit easier as time passes between them. Kenta didn’t go back to Sanggyun’s apartment, but they text sometimes, and pass each other in the hall way, and a couple of times at the store, that kind of thing.

It actually makes a strange kind of sense, and Kenta grows comfortable with it.

Sanggyun keeps promising they’ll see eachother soon, but it doesn’t come to fruition for two full weeks, when Sanggyun knocks on the door to his apartment, and shoves a backpack into his hands.

“We’re going to Bukhansan. Donghan’s still asleep, so he’s missing out on this one.”

Kenta doesn’t know why he feels relieved by this, but he does.

They take the bus out, which takes a while, and when they get to the base of the mountain, Sanggyun turns to grin at him again.

“You think you’re fit for something hard? Or do you want to do something super beginner? Don’t worry, I don’t judge.”

“Beginner sounds good…”

“Cool.”

The trail they took didn’t feel that beginner to Kenta, but maybe that was because it was his first time hiking in a pretty long time, and he was pretty out of shape as a result.

When they finally got to a good place to eat, Kenta could appreciate how pretty it was up here, but he mostly wanted to look at Sanggyun instead of the view.

“So, I went to the convenience store this morning, and I wasn’t really sure what you liked, so I just got kimbap dosirak for both of us. Sorry.”

Kenta just smiled at him. “Oh, it’s fine. I like kimbap.” Especially when I’m eating it with you, he wanted to say, but he still felt too cautious to say anything like that really.

Sanggyun broke out into one of his usual toothy smiles, and dug into his food.

By the time they were done hiking, Kenta felt worn down to the bones, but it wasn’t quite dark yet, so they got onto the bus back into Seoul, and when Sanggyun fell asleep on Kenta’s shoulder, Kenta didn’t say anything until they actually had to get off.

`Tuesday, June 26, 2018 22:16:17  
Title: Long time no see`

`Dear strawberries,  
Sorry for the long wait. I’ve been busy.`

`I’ve seen Stitch a few more times, but I’m still not really sure what he feels about me. I’m kind of afraid to find out too.`

`I think I like him. But I don’t know if I can deal with this again.`

`I’ve attached a few pictures I took on a hike I took with Stitch recently, though.`

`KENTA★`

He texted Sanggyun the next day saying that they should talk, and Sanggyun agrees to it, probably because he’s not expecting anything at all weighted or heavy. Why would he? Things were really going well between them, so he couldn’t expect much.

Thankfully, Donghan isn’t there, but it still feels weird to him. Kenta isn’t really sure of Sanggyun’s feelings, and even if he kind of knows that he likes him, he still has a hard time admitting to it.

“Hey, Kenta. I made some lunch if you want?”

“Sure…”

The lunch passes a little more awkwardly than it usually would, and Sanggyun definitely picked up on it. He kept silent on it, though. For the most part.

“Are you okay?”

“Mm, yeah. Why?”

“You’ve been acting a little weird today. Well, for a while, probably. Something bothering you? Is it Donghan, because I can tell him off if you need me to. I’m good at that.”

“Ah … no.”

“Then what is it? Do you not like me?”

That made Kenta flush, and this time, he knew there was no way that Sanggyun didn’t see it.

“Huh?”

“Ah, its really—”

The door opened. It was Donghan, of course, and he was smiling until he saw that Kenta was there.

“Uh, hi. Am I interrupting something?”

Kenta looked away from Sanggyun then.

“No, I’m just leaving.”

He didn’t even finish his food, and he completely missed the look that Donghan was giving Sanggyun.

`Wednesday, June 27, 2018 22:16:17  
Title: Long time no see`

`Dear strawberries,  
I’m really getting annoyed, because either he’s being oblivious or he literally doesn’t know that I have feelings for him. Either way it’s pretty horrible right now. And I can’t talk to him when Moomin always appears.`

`What can I even do now? I like him but I don’t want to like him.`

`KENTA★`

`Anonymous - 2018-06-28 22:18:30  
I’m coming over.`

Kenta hadn’t even seen the comment when he heard the knock on the door, and he had expected the person who opened the door even less.

“Hey.”

“… Donghan.”

“Yeah, sorry about this I guess but in that blog post, you’re talking about Sanggyun, right? My roommate. I couldn’t quite guess what you were saying since you write that entire blog in Japanese.”

Kenta just blinked.

“You read my blog?”

“Yeah, I found it after you went back to Japan after you graduated. You really hated me that much while we were dating?"

Kenta winced. "I didn't hate you, you were just kind of bad at it..."

Donghan rolled his eyes. "Look, I’m sorry if me being there makes things weird. I know you took it bad. But Sanggyun really is a good guy, and he’s a good fuck too if you’re into that— what?”

“You fuck Sanggyun?”

“I did a couple times? Don’t worry I’m really not interested.”

“So what are you saying?”

“I want things to be okay between us.”

“You think it’s that easy?”

“Well, no— but Sanggyun likes you too. He’s told me, or like— it’s obvious anyways even if he hadn’t described that whole thing when you guys saw that movie together and he like felt you up the whole time but you did nothing—”

“He didn’t feel me up!”

“Yeah, whatever.”

“So what should I do?”

“You should call him. Right now.”

“With you here?”

“Yeah.” Donghan looked kind of gleeful about it, and watched him as he took out his phone and brought up Sanggyun’s contact.

“Sanggyun?”

“Yeah, hey, is Donghan there right now?”

“Um… yeah.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. I just needed to tell you something.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I like you.”

He couldn’t tell who that exhale belonged to, whether it was him or Sanggyun or Donghan, but the relief in the room was palpable even if one person wasn’t there physically.

“Oh, good. I like you too, Kenta.”

Donghan must have been able to tell that Kenta was about to pass out from whatever Sanggyun had told him, because he’d pulled Kenta’s phone out of his hand.

“He’ll be there in a minute, _Gyunnie-hyung_.” and Kenta could practically hear the wince coming from Sanggyun’s end of the line as he hung up.

But Donghan wasn’t looking at Kenta like he wanted to make him cringe.

“Are you okay?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“You think it’s gonna be weird right? Because I’m gonna be around.”

Kenta couldn’t look him in the eye.

“Look, I’m over it. Like— I know I broke up with you and all, so I guess I would be, but like… even though I used to mess around with Sanggyun, doesn’t mean I’d mess with both of you.”

Donghan’s smiling, and it kind of made Kenta want to reach for him like he used to. 

“Thanks, Donghan.”

“You’re welcome. Now go over to my apartment. I’ll clear out for a couple of hours, and you guys can do whatever.”

“What are you even going to do? It’s so late!”

“I have other friends, Kenta. Now go.”

And with that, he actually physically pushed Kenta out the door, not even giving him a choice.

* * *

When Donghan came back, Kenta was curled into Sanggyun’s side, and some movie was playing at low volume.

“I’m surprised you guys are out here.”

Sanggyun just laughed as he pulled Kenta a little closer. “What, you thought I’d fuck him already?”

“I mean, he fucked me on the second date, and you guys have had way more dates than that now.”

“He fucked you?” Sanggyun’s eyebrows rose.

“Mm, yeah. Just because he’s sweet doesn’t mean he’s gonna submit to everything you do. Even if you got him to go to Bukhansan at 9am that one time—”

Sanggyun just waved him off. “You’re gonna wake him up.”

Donghan scoffed. “Whatever, I’m going to bed. Try not to be noisy.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll save that until after we’ve had an official date.”

Donghan rolled his eyes before turning to go to the bathroom.

“Congrats, by the way,” Donghan half muttered, but he wasn’t even looking at Sanggyun as he said it.

“Thanks, _Donghannie_.”

` Thursday, June 28, 2018 01:03:58  
Title: Boyfriend`

`Dear strawberries,`

`Stitch likes me. We’re dating (finally).`

`Moomin helped. I guess they’re closer than I thought they were.`

`I’ll make sure to post brighter updates in the future!`

`Thank you for still reading my blog.`

`KENTA★`

**Author's Note:**

> SO... I got really picky with dates in this story as you can see. At least, kind of. I hope everything fit together well?
> 
> "Sunrise in my Hometown" was meant to be "Sunset in my Hometown" because it was supposed to come out in May when I was first working on that part but got pushed back? WHATEVER.
> 
> (The movie sounds interesting though, right...?)
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, I hope you liked it!


End file.
